1. Field
The present invention relates to a liquid developer, an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, a liquid developer cartridge, and a process cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus and an electrophotographic image forming method which use a liquid developer including a toner dispersed in a carrier liquid as a developer have been known.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-98864 discloses an image forming apparatus which is provided with a non-contact heating unit configured to heat an unfixed image on a recording medium in a non-contact manner, that is, an image fixing device configured to heat and fix the unfixed image formed using a liquid developer including a toner dispersed in a non-volatile solvent, on the recording medium, and a solvent removing unit configured to remove a precipitated solvent precipitated by heating of the non-contact heating unit from the surface of the image.
Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-62466 discloses an image forming apparatus using an electrostatic image developing liquid developer in which the electrostatic image developing liquid developer contains toner particles (containing a coloring agent and a resin) dispersed in a carrier liquid, and the resin component contains, as a main component, a crystalline polyester resin of which melt mass flow rate measured at 150±0.4° C. under a load of 2160±10 g in accordance with JIS K7210 ranges from 10 g/10 min to 1200 g/10 min.